Decarbonised energy infrastructure
Even if we have the best carbon-accounting system in the world, it will mean nothing if we do not invest in replacing our fossil fuel dependent infrastructure from the 20th century with modern lower-carbon alternatives.
This process requires a change in mindset from thinking about what is the cheapest product to buy now in today’s world as opposed to what is going to be most cost effective over the life of this strategy. It is about asking what to invest in now to prevent us from having to pay for expensive carbon offsetting and higher energy costs in the future because we did not decarbonise early enough.
In setting a net zero target for 2035, we cannot predict where technology will be by then to know all the future decarbonisation avenues available to us. However, we have identified the four biggest opportunities to decarbonise our infrastructure over the next five years.
That is why we are committing to working with the Greater South East Energy Hub to produce feasibility studies in each of the following areas by December 2021:
- Replacing our Combined Heat and Power Plant with a low carbon alternative
- Expanding our renewable energy production through the creation of an additional solar farm
- Creating a new sustainable transport hub with bike storage, showers, public transport infrastructure and solar ports
- Upgrading of electric vehicle, scooter and bike charging infrastructure.
These feasibility studies will allow us to appraise the best options and solutions in each of these areas. They will also enable us to estimate the relative costs and benefits (both financial and environmental) of each option. This will give us the necessary data to make appropriate business cases to the University’s Capital Programmes Committee and external funders, such as the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to obtain the budget to begin to pay for the necessary capital infrastructure investments by December 2026.
In prioritising the above feasibility studies, it is important to acknowledge that we are not currently looking to decarbonise our existing district heating system. This is because the current system has at least 15 years left to run and it would create perverse carbon impacts if we replaced it at this time. However, we will commit to replacing our district heating system with a low-carbon alternative by 2035. We will also regularly review the advances in technology as they arise, and identify any opportunities to retrofit the existing system to become lower carbon.
Finally, we will reduce our digital emissions through progression of the Digital Infrastructure Programme, including realisation of our ‘cloud first’ principle by 2024 and commit to being at the forefront of low-carbon computing and software techniques within our research.